Light-Driven Liquid Crystal "Computer" Could Power Future Soft Robotics Projects

Researchers at the University of Chicago and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) have come up with a new way to create computers — using liquid crystals, of the type more normally associated with displays, in place of silicon logic components.

"We showed you can create the elementary building blocks of a circuit — gates, amplifiers, and conductors — which means you should be able to assemble them into arrangements capable of performing more complex operations," explains Juan de Pablo, professor and senior corresponding author on the paper. "It's a really exciting step for the field of active materials."

Where traditionally the integrated circuits that power modern computers are made from silicon, the team's creations use liquid crystals — the same as power liquid-crystal display panels, including computer monitors and TVs. Finding a way to control topological defects — areas where molecular orientation doesn't quite fit — using light, the team figured out how to turn the liquid crystals into basic electronic components.

"These have many of the characteristics of electrons in a circuit — we can move them long distances, amplify them, and shut or open their transport as in a transistor gate," Rui Zhang, first author, explains, "which means we could use them for relatively sophisticated operations."

In theory, a sufficiently complex liquid crystal device could replace the processor of a modern computer — but the team believes the technology will be better-suited in fields like soft robotics, where active liquid crystal devices would be able to flex and deform in ways silicon chips cannot. The researchers are also investigating the technology's potential to act as a fluid transport system for synthetic cells.

The team's work is available under open-access terms in the journal Science Advances.